General Management, Risk Management

Richard Leblanc is Associate Professor of Law, Corporate Governance & Ethics in York University's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. Richard is a recognized expert in the field of corporate governance. He is an academic with a wealth of experience in working with boards and their directors to strengthen governance effectiveness. His insights have guided leaders of organizations through his teaching, writing and consultation to both government regulators and corporations.

Communication, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Richard Phillips became Canada's first Communication Coach in 2006, based on his formal education in Sociology & Psychology, his innate understanding of human behaviour, and his many years of teaching. He is a certified coach and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) practitioner. In 2007, Richard founded 3V Communications – a company that takes a holistic approach to customized business communication skills coaching and training. As an author of several ebooks and articles, as well as a sitting member of Human Resources Professionals Association, Richard is an expert in communications, public speaking techniques, and body language analysis, frequently called upon by the media to provide pundit opinion and advice on business people, politicians and celebrities.

Communication, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Richard Phillips became Canada's first Communication Coach in 2006, based on his formal education in Sociology & Psychology, his innate understanding of human behaviour, and his many years of teaching. He is a certified coach and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) practitioner. In 2007, Richard founded 3V Communications – a company that takes a holistic approach to customized business communication skills coaching and training. As an author of several ebooks and articles, as well as a sitting member of Human Resources Professionals Association, Richard is an expert in communications, public speaking techniques, and body language analysis, frequently called upon by the media to provide pundit opinion and advice on business people, politicians and celebrities.

Healthcare

Rick has built three $10-million healthcare businesses over the past 15 years, including a network of 127 clinics with more than 1400 employees. He is one of the most sought-after mentors for clinic owners in Canada and USA where he helps owners double, triple and even quadruple their profits by optimizing their clinic operations using his proven systems and leadership strategies. Plus, he has spent millions in Google and Facebook ads during his career. Rick also founded CallHero, a call-recording and conversation analysis software that helps clinics get even more new patients over the phones from their marketing.

Rick Matthews is the Director of Content & Strategy at Rogers Sports & Media where he leads the strategy for social content, websites, and digital audio performance for 50+ media brands including key media properties 98.1 CHFI and KiSS 92.5. Matthews is also responsible for the development and launch of Seekr, Roger’s newest digital audio platform for live radio, podcasts, news and sports. Previous to joining Rogers, Rick was Vice President of International at Kin Community, a global digital media company and creator community. Under his leadership, Kin expanded to key international markets, including Canada, Australia and Europe and delivered award-winning, multi-platform video campaigns with Kin’s roster of industry-leading lifestyle creators who are some of the biggest names in female focused content on YouTube.

Rob Adams is a passionate and innovative leader who uses outside-the-box thinking to leverage success. He is a unique leader, having served as both a multi-term Mayor and Warden on the political side and as a Chief Administrative Officer leading some of Canada’s fastest-growing municipalities. Rob is also a proven business executive as he ran the operations of several technology software companies and inspired his team to achieve the Profit 100 Canada's Fastest Growing Companies rankings 2 years in a row. Rob is the founder and CEO of a private consulting firm, specializing in strategic plans, service delivery reviews, council-staff relations and high-performance team training. 

General Management, People Leadership

Rob LaJoie is the Managing Partner and leader of the consulting and implementation practices for Ideaction Inc. He is an experienced business leader, manager and practical innovator who applies the process of innovating to solve real business problems. Rob’s expertise lies in the areas of team building, team deployment and team leadership in a wide variety of business environments. For 24 years, he has worked to frame, solve and deploy solutions to complex problems that impact individual, team and organizational performance in the service sector. This work has taken him around the world working on initiatives for banks, insurance companies, retailers, logistics companies, technology firms. Recently, he has been the acting director of innovation for the Business Development Bank of Canada, helping them build a culture of innovation while shaping and implementing multiple applied-innovation initiatives. Rob holds undergraduate degrees in Science and Management Economics, both from the University of Guelph, an MBA from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and Executive Program certificates from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Risk Management

Rob Quail holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto. Rob is a widely respected author, facilitator and lecturer on Enterprise Risk Management. He has participated as a lecturer in the program since 2011. Rob established the pioneering Enterprise Risk Management processes, tools and methodologies at Hydro One Networks Inc. that are today widely regarded as best-practice. The practices developed by Rob in collaboration with the management team at Hydro One became the subject of many studies and papers, including a major “leading practice” case study by Harvard Business School. While at Hydro One, Rob also held key leadership roles in the areas of technology transformation and outsourcing. Later, Rob was appointed Vice President of Customer Service at Hydro One in the wake of a difficult billing system implementation, and during this time he applied Enterprise Risk Management principles to lead dramatic improvements in all areas of customer service, including call centre operations, billing, electricity conservation, and collections. Today, Rob provides independent consulting services in enterprise risk management, business process and technology outsourcing, and customer care to clients in a variety of industry sectors. Rob is a contributing author to both of the Wiley textbooks used in the program: Enterprise Risk Management: Today’s Leading Research and Best Practices for Tomorrow’s Executives,” and “Implementing Enterprise Risk Management.”

Public Sector

Robert is Chief Executive Officer for the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC), where he has led numerous innovation projects across Canada and globally. Previously, Robert was Assistant Deputy Minister with Ontario's Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing where he was responsible for delivering key government priorities to over 400 municipalities across the Province. In addition, he was the Assistant Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Research and Innovation and led the launch of the Province's first Innovation Strategy.

Lean Six Sigma

Rod is the lead instructor for Schulich School of Business’s Master Certificate in Lean Six Sigma Black Belt program. Having instructed and coached thousands of Six Sigma Black Belts, Green Belts and Champion in Canada and internationally, he is one of Canada’s foremost Six Sigma trainers and practitioners.